France: Insect fed trout brand goes live

Auchan supermarket in France is now selling own label insect fed trout in 52 of its stores in the North of France region with the objective of extending the initiative to all its supermarkets in France by the end of 2019.

Auchan Retail France, which is a subsidiary of Auchan Retail, with 73,800 employees and 641 stores and retail sites in France, ​said the launch of this new insect fed trout is aligned with the brand’s overall strategy to promote the development of a sustainable French aquaculture.

All the partners of the project are located in the North of France; the initiative was very much driven by actors at a local scale, said Auchan.

The collaborative project involved many parties along the supply chain from the insect producer – InnovaFeed to the fish feed manufacturer – Skretting and to the fish farmer - Truite Service.

Auchan Retail France said the logo with the wording 'Poisson nourri à l'insecte' or ‘insect fed’ applies to farmed fish products that respect two criteria: The fish were fed with a feed for which a minimum 50% of the fish meal has been replaced by insect protein and the fish have, as a minimum, doubled in weight during the phase they have been given an insect protein based feed.

Auchan said it is communicating about this new product line with in-stores posters and a distinctive logo. It has also developed a website​​ to expand on the aims of the initiative.

Extending coverage to salmon?

Guillaume Gras, cofounder of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) derived protein producer, Innova Feed, told us last May that while the alliance is only about French trout production for the moment, the partners are looking to extend coverage to salmon production in northern Europe.

“This​ is​ a great partnership that gives feed manufacturers and fish farmers a concrete and reliable outlet. This guaranteed market enables them to take the risk to innovate with us.”​

The producer said the support of the new investors would enable it to accelerate development in a big way.

Maye Walraven, marketing and business development executive at InnovaFeed, told us:

“We have secured an additional €40m, out of which a majority comes from capital injections from several new international investors led by CREADEV, a French private equity investment firm, controlled by the Mulliez family, which is committed to long-term collaboration with innovative and passionate entrepreneurs.​

“CREADEV strongly believes in the potential of the insect production sector for feed and that InnovaFeed’s strategic decisions and processes will make it successful in the long term.”​